Users either can or can not access all songs forever, courtesy of Qtrax

Susi Weaser of Shiny Shiny writes:

There is either very good or very indifferent news for music fans this morning, as a new service is unveiled at MIDEM, the music industry conference, today. According to The Telegraph, the service has signed up EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music, providing a combined catalogue of 25 million songs. These are all going to be available to people for free, to listen to an unlimited amount of time, providing they put up with a certain amount of advertising between songs. There will be DRM on the tracks, but only to provide record companies with information about how many times the songs are being downloaded, as the companies will be paid a share of the ad revenue in accordance with how popular the tracks are.

Good news, right?

Well, it will be if it’s true. PC Pro are saying that in fact, the only major record company currently signed up is Sony BMG. They’re also reporting the fact that the DRM will prevent users from burning the tracks to CDs.
What’s the truth? Well, we’re not sure. Regardless of who’s signed up, the service is so far incompatible with iPods, although a solution is being sought. It’s launching in Beta at midnight EST, which is 5am tomorrow (Tuesday) for us. Check it out here.

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